What Works

Ezekiel 18:4: Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Atonement of sin comes from faithing in Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Savior and Lord of your life. It is accepting that He, through the Father and the Son’s great love for your soul, accepted death on the cross as payment for your sins. He did this for me, and for you, not in our perfection but in our sinfulness. To us that were not yet born, He knew us already and willingly accepted this death so that we could be free. Not taking away our free will, Jesus Christ accepted the will of His Father in order for us to choose to walk again in relationship with God the Father. Once we come to the conclusion of who Jesus Christ is in our life, we begin our walk of faith were Abba Father, The potter, molds us into what He designed for us to become. To help us do this daily, Jesus Christ, knowing He was going to ascend up to the Father and be seated at His Father’s right side, gifted us with the Holy Spirit to speak on our behalf and transforms our life. This whole action, once accepting Christ and what He did for us on the cross, allows God’s judgment to Passover us so that when God sees us, He sees not our sins but our soul clothed in purity, having been washed by the blood of the lamb. It is this daily transformation, walking by faith in Christ Jesus, that we are justified and have salvation for eternity.

Many will say that it is we will know whether they are a Christian or follower of Jesus by their works. Was Christ’s death and our acceptance of His sacrifice the transformation of a yard stick by which others can measure how saved, how faithful, how much God loves us? Many would say that and judge each other harshly, dismissing a soul for his or her shortcomings instead of encouraging each other in love, realizing that we are all on a journey of transformation and in this journey is God’s glory truly revealed.

In Galatians 2:15-17, Paul reminds us that we are not justified by our good deeds, so how could our works be a unit to measure each other by? It cannot! Clearly works of the law did not work in the Old Testament. Works today are still ineffective for it is not by works that we are saved or we would not need a savior. Works of the law was meant to be a yard stick to measure our short fallings and draw us into our need to seek a Savior – the Savior, Jesus Christ.
   15We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

Paul points out through the Jews that it is in God’s great mercy and love, knowing all that He has done for us, knows still our nature to choose sin. The Gentiles represent those that are still ignorant of the law, and therefore do not yet recognize their need for a Savior. We, the saved, must walk in faith daily for us to seek Christ. For what is it that we seek but to know God and for God to recognize us by the covering of the blood of the perfect Lamb. It is by this covering that God’s judgment passes over us.

This Passover and deep love that we find is so exciting that we wish for our loved ones to join us in the kingdom. Although well intended, we cannot save through our own means anyone: None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him (Psalm 49:7). We can pray for the lost as prayers of the righteous avail much and matters of the supernatural are best dealt with in the supernatural for our physical nature is unfit to save anyone.

And dear children, before determining who truly is saved and who walks by faith, take heed by this warning in Psalm 143:2: And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. It is again by the Passover of Christ’ blood on us that we are marked His, the Son of the Most High. For if it was not by this blood, who would be blameless of sin. The Psalmist put this another way in Psalm 130:3: If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

Jesus Christ explains in Luke 15:3-10 that it is by His work to seek the lost that we are eventually found and rescued from the penalty of sin – death for eternity. Jesus seeks us not because He desires to condemn us but because He loves us. He finds us where we are at in our lives and, if we allow ourselves to humbly accept His great love and sacrifice, how much He will bring us through it. In fact, Jesus explains how Heaven is filled with excitement at our decision to humbly ask forgiveness of our sins and accept our redemption through His sacrifice of our sins on the cross.
   3And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
   8Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? 9And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. 10Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

It is in this great joy and misunderstanding of His mercy that we, in our unworthiness of this unmerited grace, can become entangled by works, trying to earn what we have been granted. God wants us to love Him and be faithful, walking daily in faith of Christ Jesus. He does not want our sacrifices through works for there was only one sacrifice worthy of the repayment of sins.

  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:16

Or, put another way -- we, being flesh born of sin, have not been made righteous out of the works of love. Absolutely not! Nothing but the faith of Jesus Christ and our daily faith walk that the “righteousification” of faith of Christ, and not of the works of the law, will we made right in the eyes of God. The just live by faith and not by sight [or works] for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

But heed the warning in Hebrews for those who accept the gift of salvation but deliberately do not allow the Holy Spirit to change their lives, but rebel instead and continue to sin:

   26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d] and again, "The Lord will judge his people."[e] 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

The parable of the faith of the mustard seed, Matthew 13:31, is meant to express that when we start our race of faith, we start out very small. But when we allow the work of the Holy Spirit in us to transform our lives, we express His glory. It is by His work, not ours, that we will know we are saved. The mustard tree is large in size for the small seed and offers many birds and wildlife rest in the comfort of its branches. So it is in our daily faith walk that when God transforms our lives, it provides those around us refuge and shelter. God’s work in and through our life is what draws others to us as they desire to truly know Him for it is all for His glory.  It is and always will be all about His work.